


We Two Flaming Hearts

by PrincessDianaArtemis



Series: OTP-Tober [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), Crushes, Day At The Beach, F/M, Katara & Toph Friendship, Katara knows all, M/M, Minor Aang/Katara, Oblivious Sokka (Avatar), Secret Crush, Sokka is a good friend, Swimming, Toph Beifong & Zuko Friendship, Toph Teases Zuko, Zuko Teases Toph, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, mutual crush, oogies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26882380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessDianaArtemis/pseuds/PrincessDianaArtemis
Summary: Zuko can’t keep his cool as Sokka takes a dip in the ocean and Toph is dead-set on making it harder to do.Two can play at that game.Meanwhile, Sokka is oblivious to the happenings around him.
Relationships: Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Katara, Toph Beifong & Sokka, Toph Beifong & Zuko, Toph Beifong/Sokka
Series: OTP-Tober [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948099
Comments: 6
Kudos: 109





	We Two Flaming Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> It was meant to be Zuko/Sokka...but it got away from me.

Keeping cool had never been Zuko’s forte. He was a firebender by birth and a hothead by genetics, and except for that time in the North Pole where he almost caught his death in the cold waters, he ran hot rather than cool. 

But now he wished for nothing more than for the ice waters of the poles to drag him under so that the blush crawling up his neck would simmer down. He knew that this little vacation with the Gaang would end in embarrassment for everyone involved.

Between the disgusting coupley things that Katara and Aang were doing, all the cooing and fluttering kisses that were over the top, and the slight swanning from Toph that knew too much for her own good, it was shaping up to be a chaotic day on the beach. 

But then Sokka suggested swimming and Zuko knew it was over for him.

He’d managed to drag a deflated-ego Toph to where the waves were crashing onto the shore and urging her to slide a little bit further.

“C’mon, Toph,” he said. “I didn’t let you go when we were dangling in mid-air, I won’t let you go in water - this is my element after all.”

Toph scoffed, then the bravado dimmed as she worried her bottom lip under her teeth, “You sure you got me?”

“I haven’t let you down, yet, have I?”

She didn’t respond, but took another step out, hand reaching out to grab his wrist. The smile he gave, one that Toph would never see, but had Zuko’s blush crawling higher up his face, was brilliant. It rivaled the sun behind him.

_ Stupid attractive, kind, Water Tribe boy _ , he thought, trying to keep his eyes on anything other than where his dark hands were gently holding Toph’s freckled ones and definitely not wishing they were wrapped around his own.

Sokka turned his attention to where Zuko was standing, frozen in place, and sent him that sunny smile, “Hey, Zuko, come and help me with your little stubborn little sister here. Maybe with both of us she’ll feel safer.”

She splashed him, “Not likely, Snoozles. But you’re welcomed to join us, Hot-head.”

The devilish smile on her face meant she knew exactly what Zuko was going though and she was having fun at his expense. But two could play that game.

“No, no, Toph, wouldn’t want to distract Sokka from taking good care of you,” he drawled, looking away from the slipping white smile against the smoothness of his dark skin. “Looking good out there -  _ Toph _ ,” he said, panicking, “Toph, you’re looking good out there - might make a swimmer out of you.”

“He’s right,” said Sokka, not noticing his panic, or at least being tactful enough not to mention it. “A regular fish.”

Toph hmphed, “Maybe it’s Zuko that needs to learn to swim because I don’t think he’s gotten in the water yet.”

As realization dawned on the rest of the group, they started encouraging him to come and join them in the freshness of the sea. Zuko felt himself tense and he shot a glare at Toph - futile, but it made him feel better - and almost like she  _ could _ see him, she let go of one of Sokka’s hands to give him a self-satisfied wave.

“I’m good right here, thanks,” he said, plopping down on his blanket to emphasize his point. “Keep splashing around.”

The others just shrugged and kept going about their business while Zuko decidedly did  _ not  _ ogle at the other teenage boy that was venturing deeper in the water with Toph in his arms. And he  _ certainly  _ wasn’t jealous.

~~0~~

Sokka was floating around on his back, hair haloing his head and eyes closed as he soaked up the middle kingdom sun. Toph had given him a warning to put her back on the sand and who was he to argue with her royalness? 

So while his student had decided to lie at Zuko’s side and dry, Sokka took the opportunity to relax and lay back.

Aang and Katara had also gotten back on the shore, cuddling against one another in the shade of the sun-trees and he tried his hardest to block out the sound of their oogies with the calming back and forth of the water below him. One of Toph’s roaring laughs had him peeking through a single opened eye.

Toph was rolling around on the red blanket, laughter pouring out of her while Zuko gestured at her and blushed high on his cheeks, the red brushing the edge of his scar. 

Sokka frowned. 

Zuko had been acting strange all day, and now it seemed that Toph was using that to her advantage and teasing him.

For a moment, he tried to shut his eyes and ignore the tittering of laughter, but the image of the embarrassed and blushing Fire Lord kept flashing in his memory. He sighed, resigned to be the bigger person here, and swam back towards the shore.

“Alright, Toph, I think you had your fun,” he said, squeezing the water out of his soaking hair onto the sand and watching the dark circles where the water landed. “Leave Zuko alone.”

Toph’s laughter stopped, but there was still a mischievous smirk on her smile as she turned in the direction Zuko sat, “A warrior in shining wolf-makeup, your hero, Zu.”

“He was  _ your  _ hero first, wasn’t he, little T?” he snapped back, an equal mischief in his tone. He turned to face Sokka and, if possible, turned redder. “No offense, Sokka but - but I don’t need your help. I can deal with this tiny, evil spirit myself.”

“Like to see you try, Hot-Head,” said Toph, nose scrunched up. “Sokka, you want to join us? You can settle a debate we’re having.”

Sokka opened his mouth to answer, but Zuko was quicker, “ _ No _ .”

_ Ouch. Well,  _ **_that_ ** _ hurt. _

“Guess, I’ll go back to - ”

“ _No_ ,” repeated Zuko, eyes wide as they turned to him. “Sorry, it’s not that I don’t want you to join us, it’s just - ”

Toph nudged him and he fell quiet, “We just wanted to see which one of us are your  _ best  _ friend. Zuko thinks it’s him because you guys had such a great time in prison - but I say it’s me, because it is.”

Chest puffed out, Sokka preened under the attentions, “You guys are fighting over who’s my best friend? That’s - that the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done,” then, impulse dictating, he jumped onto the blanket, wiggling between them and crushing them against his still wet torso. “But you don’t have to fight - I love you both and there’s plenty of me to go around.”

He could see the tinting of red on both their faces, vibrant like a sunburn that was etched into their paler-than-him skin, but neither of them struggled against his grip, so he counted it as a win.

“Now, besties, what do you say we take a little dip? You guys are getting all red and gross,” he said, pulling them both up with him.

Katara, from her place in the shadows shook her head, “How about instead we go eat? It looks like you’re a giant sea prune and they’re as red as the blanket. Let’s take a break.”

Sokka beamed and tugged them away from the sea and towards Katara, “Yeah, and you can both sit right next to me - the three best friends, heroes.”

He let go of them, choosing instead to pounce onto Aang’s back and push him ahead of the crowd and away from Katara while she sidled up to the blushing pair.

“You guys owe me big time, especially you, Zuko.”

He looked down at her frowning, “Why me?”

She laughed, hooking Toph’s arm with hers and leading her away, “Because there’s a code of girlhood that prevents me from revealing Toph’s secret - but nothing keeping me from spilling your cute little crush on my brother.”

Fear dawned on Zuko’s face, “Katara - ”

“Relax, I’m not gonna say anything - and don’t worry, he hasn’t noticed a thing.”

Toph scoffed, “Because he’s an idiot.”

Zuko sighed, shaking his head, “Yeah, but unfortunately he’s  _ our  _ idiot.”

Katara gave another laugh, “Remind me  _ why _ you guys have a crush on him?”

There was no way for the other two to share a look, but they managed to anyway, “You got us.”

“It’s a mystery.”

“Guess we’re just a couple of dopes, huh, Zu?” asked Toph, smiling wide and holding back laughter.

He let a little chuckle escape as he reached around Katara and ruffled her hair, “Guess so, Little T, guess so.”

Katara was confused, but shook her head and smiled letting the two continue bantering as they made to catch up with the other two - an easy day for the Gaang as they celebrated their new world and new feelings.


End file.
